Equity Office shareholders advised to accept deal

ISS recommends investors approve Blackstone's offer

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- An independent shareholder advisers group has recommended Equity Office Property Trust shareholders vote to approve a $54-per-share offer for the company, according to Equity Office on Sunday.

Institutional Shareholder Services, an independent proxy-voting and corporate-governance research firm, said over the weekend that those who hold common shares in the nation's largest owner and operator of office properties
EOP
should approve the Blackstone Group's offer of $54 a share in cash for Equity Office stock, in a deal valued at about $38.3 billion with debt.

ISS said "the current bid offered by Blackstone appears to have culminated from an open bidding process, which has served to maximize the highest value for shareholders," according to the Equity Office press release on Sunday.

The Blackstone Group on Thursday escalated the bidding war for Equity Office by raising its bid 11.3%, up from $48.50 a share. Earlier this month, a consortium of investors led by REIT Vornado Realty Trust
VNO, +1.44%
offered to acquire Equity Office for $52 a share in a deal that would include stock, topping Blackstone's earlier bid. The consortium includes Starwood Capital and Walton Street Capital.

Blackstone's amended $38.3 billion offer for Equity Office is the largest private-equity bid ever as well as the largest real estate bid on record, according to Dealogic. See full story.

ISS also said Equity Office "has opened its books to the Vornado Group ... and has extended them a Jan. 31 deadline for affirming a competing offer." ISS said it "will continue to monitor the situation," according to the release on Sunday.

Equity Office said it will file on Monday supplemental proxy materials related to Blackstone's latest offer.

"If approved by shareholders, and subject to satisfaction of other closing conditions, the Blackstone transaction would be expected to close on or about Feb. 8," Equity Office said in the release. Equity Office's Board of Trustees recommends Equity Office common shareholders approve the transaction with Blackstone.

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